Althuis  Hofland

Fine Arts

Polina Barskaya’s confessional portraits have a diaristic quality to them. Working from photographs, but allowing for artistic liberties, Barskaya depicts herself, her child and her husband within a domestic space. These portraits are either in the artist’s home in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn or in various accommodations visited throughout her frequent travels (ranging from Upstate, NY to Venice, Italy). Mired in quotidian details, each psychological drama is charged with longing, sexuality and self-reflection.

Barskaya’s paintings hone in on the psychological intensity of their subjects. Within enclosed spaces, Barskaya often uses windows and light to create a sense of disconnect and isolation. Quiet, and still, with rumbling under tones, her paintings are stories about the human condition. Through a combination of vulnerability and power, Barskaya unravels the complexity of life in her sincere portraits.

Her work was selected by Jerry Saltz of New York Magazine for the New American Paintings Northeast Edition (2020). She was recently awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant and has exhibited extensively throughout the US.

 

Born in Cherkassy, Ukraine
Lives and works in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY

 

Education

2010 MFA Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
2007 BA, Hunter College, New York, NY

 

Solo exhibitions

2024
Kristin Hjellegjerde, West Palm Beach, USA
Maternità, Galleria Richter, Rome, Italy

2023
Intimism, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY
Travel, Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK

2022
Althuis Hofland Fine Arts, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2021
Still, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY
Time Passing, Taymour Grahne (online), London, UK

2019
Paintings, GNYP Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Place, Monya Rowe Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2018
Brightwater Avenue, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY
Paintings, John Davis Gallery, Hudson, NY

2015
Family Affair, Honey Ramka (project space), Brooklyn, NY

2013
Recent Paintings, JCC Manhattan, New York, NY

2010
The Visitors, Kent Place Gallery, Summit NJ, NY

 

Selected group exhibitions

2020
Outside Touch, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY
Sit Still: Self Portraits in the Age of Distraction, Anna Zorina Gallery, New York, NY
Poeticising Leisure, Althuis Hofland Fine Arts, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Rewind Fast-forward: Temporal Art Paradox, Winston Wachter, New York, NY, curated by Natasha Schlesinger
Xenia: Crossroads in Portrait Painting, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY

2019
Polina Barskaya & Anthony Cudahy: Interior, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY

2018
The Salon, The Wing Soho, New York, NY, curated by Lolita Cros
Dynamic Intimacy, Kean University, Union, NJ, curated by Anna Shukeylo
Between The Walls, Tillou Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY
Into View, Sweet Lorraine Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Untitled Art Fair, Pratt Institute, Miami, FL

2017
Home, Monya Rowe Gallery, FL
Art Prize, Grand Rapids, MI, curated by Tyler Loftis
Mommy, Monya Rowe Gallery, FL
PULSE Miami Beach (w/ Honey Ramka, Brooklyn, NY), Miami, FL(Some)body, Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York, NY

2016
Miami Overflow, Honey Ramka, Brooklyn, NY
PULSE Miami Beach (w/ Honey Ramka, Brooklyn, NY), Miami, FL

2014
21 and Counting, The Painting Centre, New York, NY
Image Makers, Novella Gallery, New York, NYWretch, Honey Ramka, Brooklyn, NY

2013

25 Artists, Suite 217, Brooklyn, NY
Bachelorette Party, Loft 594, Brooklyn, NY
Sideshow Nation, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2012
How to Write a Novel, Field Projects, New York, NY
Me, Myself and I, with Aubrey Levinthal, and Justin Liam O’Brien, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY

2011
Distance from the Source, Set Gallery, Brooklyn, NY